Mulong Luo
Assistant Professor
Florida State University
mluo AT fsu DOT edu
Vita, Google Scholar, LinkedIn, Twitter
I am an incoming assistant professor at the Department of Computer Science at Florida State University starting fall 2025. My current research interests are the following:
- Using AI agents (e.g., reinforcement learning) for exploring the trustworthiness of computer systems;
- Trustworthiness of AI systems (LLMs, autonomous vehicles 1, 2, 3, and neural networks 4, 5, 6 ).
I aim to build future trustworthy (AI-oriented) computer systems with the help of AI.
I am actively looking for Ph.D. students to work on computer architecture, computer security and artificial intelligence research, with an anticipated starting date of spring 2026 or fall 2026. Please drop me an email with your CV at mluo@fsu.edu.
News
- 2025/7, will start as an assistant professor at Florida State University soon.
- 2025/7, invited to the external review committee of HPCA 2026.
- 2025/2, one paper on life cycle-aware power side channel detection has been accepted at HOST 2025.
- 2025/2, invited to the program committee of MICRO 2025.
- 2025/1, invited to serve on NSF SaTC 2.0 as an adhoc reviewer.
- 2024/12, invited to the program committee of ACM CCS 2025, the paper registration deadline is Jan, 2nd, 2025, please consider submit your best work.
- 2024/11, gave a keynote talk at HASP @ MICRO 2024 on RL for microachitectural security, here are the slides.
- 2024/9, talk at SRC TECHCON on RL for eviction set finding.
- 2024/8, talk at DEFCON AI Village on ConfusedPilot.
- 2024/5, invited to the program committee of IEEE S&P 2025.
- 2024/4, organized a tutorial at ASPLOS 2024 on Learning-based Microachitectural Attack Detection.
- 2024/2, won best reviewer award at VehicleSec 2024.
- 2023/8, joined UT Austin as a postdoctoral reseacher.
- 2023/10, invited to the external review committee of ISCA 2024.
- 2023/7, invited to the program committee (light) of HPCA 2024.
- 2023/7, awarded $1,500 AWS credit for NSF-CISE Cloudbank for promoting reinforcement learning in computer system research.
- 2023/7, invited talk at DACPS@DAC 2023.
- 2023/6, organized a Tutorial at ISCA 2023 on Reinforcement Learning for Computer Systems
- 2023/6, selected as CPS Rising Star.
- 2023/5, MACTA is presented at ICLR 2023.
- 2023/4, invited to the program committee of Usenix Security 2024.
- 2023/2, presented AutoCAT at HPCA 2023.
- 2022/12, invited to the program committee of ACM CCS 2023.
- 2022/10, my paper selected as Top Ticks in Hardware and Embedded Security 2022 shortlist.
- 2020/8, presented at Usenix Security 2020 on autonomous vehicle security.
- 2018/11, my paper won best paper award at CPSSPC@CCS 2018.
Education
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Doctor of Philosophy, Computer Engineering, Cornell University, 2017-2023.
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Master of Science, Computer Science, University of California San Diego, 2017.
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Bachelor of Science, Electronic Engineering and Computer Science, Peking University, 2014.
Selected Publications
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A. Cathis, M. Luo, M. Tiwari, A. Gerstlauer, “Lifecycle-Aware Power-Based Malware Detection”, accepted to HOST, 2025. [pdf]
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S. Banerjee *, P. Sahu *, M. Luo, A. Valhdiek-Oberwager, N. J. Yadwadkar, M. Tiwari. “SoK: Attack and Defense on Compound AI”, in submission. (* Equal contribution.) preprint.
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A. RoyChowdhury*, M. Luo, et. al., “Confused Deputy Risks in RAG-based LLMs”, [pdf],[website].Security Magazine, Data Breach Today, CYBR Monk, Secure World.(* Undergrad student advised.)
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M. Luo, M. Tiwari. “Towards Reinforcement Learning for Eviction-Set Finding for Randomized Caches”,SRC TECHCON, 2024.
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J. Cui, X. Yang*, M. Luo*, G. Lee*, et. al., “MACTA: A Multi-agent Reinforcement Learning Approach for Cache Timing Attacks and Detection”, accepted to International Conference on Learning Representation (ICLR), 2023. [pdf] (* Equal contributions.),[code]
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M. Luo*, W. Xiong*, et. al., “AutoCAT: Reinforcement Learning for Automated Exploration of Cache Timing-Channel Attacks”, accepted to IEEE International Symposium on High Performance Computer Architecture (HPCA), 2023. [pdf][code](* Equal contributions.)(Artifact Evaluated, Functional and Result Reproduced).
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M. Luo, G. E. Suh, “Accelerating Path Planning for Autonomous Driving with Hardware-assisted Memorization”, in International conference on Application-specific Systems, Architectures and Processors (ASAP), 2022. [pdf]
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M. Luo, G. E. Suh, “Interrupt Attack on TEE for Robotic Vehicles”, in Automobile and Autonomous Vehicle Security Workshop (AutoSec), 2022, collocated with Networked and Distributed System Symposium (NDSS). [pdf],[talk]
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M. Luo, A. C. Myers, G. E. Suh, “Stealthy Tracking of Autonomous Vehicles with Cache Side Channels”, in 29th USENIX Security Symposium, 2020, pp.859-876 [pdf] [slides][talk] (Shortlisted for Top Picks in Hardware and Embedded Security 2022.)
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J. H. Lin, X. Jiao, M. Luo, “Vulnerability of hardware neural networks to dynamic operation point variations”, in IEEE Design and Test, 2020. [pdf]
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J. Liu, J. C. Davies, A. Ferraiuolo, A. Ivanov, M. Luo, et al., “Secure Autonomous Cyber-Physical Systems Through Verifiable Information Flow Control”, in Workshop on Cyber-Physical Systems Security and PrivaCy (CPS-SPC), collocated with ACM Conference on Computer and Communications Security (CCS), 2018, pages 48-59 (Best Paper Award). [pdf]
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X. Jiao, M. Luo, J. H. Lin, R. K. Gupta, “An Assessment of Vulnerability of Hardware Neural Networks to Dynamic Voltage and Temperatrue Variations”, in Internaional Conference on Computer-Aided Design (ICCAD), 2017, 940-950. [pdf]
Tutorials
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M. Luo, et al., LDMA: Learning-based Detection of Microarchitectural Attacks, co-located with Architectural Support for Programming Languages and Operating Systems (ASPLOS), 2024.
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M. Luo, et al., Reinforcement Learning for Computer Architecture and Systems (RL4CAS) Tutorial, co-located with International Symposium on Computer Architecture (ISCA), 2023.
Invited Talks
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Reinforcement Learning for Microarchitectural Security: Cache Timing Channel, Speculative Execution, and Defense at The International Workshop on Hardware and Architectural Support for Security and Privacy (HASP), co-located with MICRO 2024.
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Reinforcement Learning for Automated Exploration and Detection of Cache-Timing Attacks in CPS Hardware at The Sixth International Workshop on Design Automation for Cyber-Physical Systems (DACPS), co-located with DAC 2023.
Services
- Selected Technical Program Committees:
- Proposal Reviewer, NSF Security and Trustworthy CyberSpace (SaTC) 2.0 Program.
- TPC, ACM/IEEE International Symposium on Microarchitecture (MICRO), 2025.
- TPC, ACM Conference on Computer and Communications Security (CCS), 2023, 2025
- TPC, IEEE Symposium on Security and Privacy, 2025.
- TPC, USENIX Security Symposium, 2024.
- ERC, International Symposium on Computer Architecture (ISCA), 2024.
- lightPC, International Symposium on High-Performance Computer Architecture (HPCA), 2024.
- TPC, International Symposium on Research in Attacks, Intrusions and Defenses (RAID), 2023, noteworthy reviewers.
- TPC, USENIX Symposium on Vehicle Security and Privacy (VehicleSec), co-located with Symposium on Networked and Distributed System Security (NDSS), 2023, 2024, outstanding reviewer, [2025].
- Organization:
- Publication Chair, ISOC Symposium on Vehicle Security and Privacy (VehicleSec), co-located with Symposium on Networked and Distributed System Security (NDSS), 2024.
- Local Arrangement Chair, The International Workshop on Hardware and Architectural Support for Security and Privacy (HASP) 2024, co-located with International Symposium on Microarchitecture (MICRO), 2024.
- Session Chairs, USENIX Security 2024, ML for security session, and Fault Attacks in ML session.
Teaching
I have been serving as a teaching assistant for multiple undergradudate and graduate-level courses at Cornell and UCSD.
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Head TA, ECE2300, Digital Logic and Computer Organization, 2020 Fall at Cornell by Prof. David Albonesi
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TA, ECE5770, Resilient Computer Systems, 2019, 2018 Fall at Cornell by Prof. Edward Suh
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Head TA, CSL140, Components and Design Techniques for Digital Systems, 2017 Spring at UCSD by Prof. C.K. Cheng
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Head TA, CSL140L, Digital Circuits Laboratory, 2017 Winter at UCSD by Prof. Rajesh Gupta and visiting Prof. Avind from MIT
Academic lineage
- Mulong Luo, Cornell - Edward Suh, MIT - Srinivas Devadas, Berkeley - Authur Newton, Berkeley - Donald Peterson, Stanford - Joseph Mayo Pettit, Stanford - Frederick Terman, MIT - Vannervar Bush, MIT - Authur Kennedy
Industry
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System on Chip (SoC) platform architecture intern, Qualcomm Inc., 2021.
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Software Reseach and Development Intern, Synopsys Inc., 2016.